


Space Jail isn't a Joke!

by Verojke



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Mortal, M/M, Mild Language, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4578405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verojke/pseuds/Verojke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I can’t believe I’m sitting in space jail with you of all people.”</p>
<p>tumblr prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Space Jail isn't a Joke!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a ridiculous sentence prompt, found here:
> 
> http://toxixpumpkin.tumblr.com/post/108022477839/ridiculous-sentence-prompts
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

**Prompt: “I can’t believe I’m sitting in space jail with you of all people.”**

****  
  


William Solace never thought the day would come.

He maintained a squeaky clean record all throughout his life. He never spoke back to his mother, being the suffering-on-the-inside type of mellow kid that he was. He never hung out with the “wrong” group of friends, considering he had kept the same handful that he made in Elementary. Said handful consisted of an artsy Lou Ellen, a mischievous yet sensitive Cecil, and his younger half-sister Kayla (who was more or less forced to befriend him by their eccentric father. Their friendship was forced initially, but grew into an easy platonic bond). Despite allnighter video chats and large consumption of junk food in short periods of time, they never did anything too rebellious. Although, if Will had to be honest, pulling an allnighter with Lou Ellen to watch the entire first season of _American Horror Story_ was pretty damn rebellious in his opinion.

 

Point is, Will had never really gotten in trouble. He had never even gotten detention, or been late to a class without an excuse. So at seventeen, young and sweet, him getting arrested had put quite a damper on his mood.

Will groaned again and slumped against the bars, the metallic silver painted plywood digging into his back uncomfortably.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t _exactly_ arrested. His town had been putting the annual summer fair, and instead of the good ol’ “4th of July” theme they had always went with prior, the committee decided to try something new.

And that something happened to be a futuristic themed fair, filled with endless cupcakes covered in metallic sprinkles, space themed rides, and alien and robot based face painting and costumes. The only thing that remained normal were the fireworks and the candied apples, so Will didn’t have any major complaints. He was only planning on snagging some apples and jetting, anyway.

However, things didn’t go according to plan.

An irritated huff was expelled from the bruised boy’s lips beside him. Nico di Angelo, the Ghost King himself, resigned himself against the bars as well, as far from Will as was physically possible in the small holding cell. So, of course, there was about a two foot gap between them. Will blinked slowly, sending a scathing glare at the boy currently trying to squeeze as far into the corner of the cell as possible.

Seeing Nico at the fair had been innocent enough. He had the boy in quite a few of his classes, and they’d spoken approximately 2 times throughout their entire high school careers. Both times were during awkward partner discussions in their literature classes. Nico moved from Italy in sophomore year, making both conversations filled with a heavy italian accent and occasionally the romance language itself, when Nico forgot the english equivalent of a word. He wore all black and was extremely quiet but he had _the most_ expressive eyes Will had ever seen. Granted, Will had only made direct eye contact with him a number of times, but those few instances were enough to confirm that despite his dark ambiance and standoffish nature, _Nico was kinda cute._

Yes, yes. Will Solace thought the kid was attractive. Sue him.

The only people that seemed to really catch onto his attitude towards Nico were Lou Ellen and maybe Nico’s half sister Hazel. Lou Ellen found out because quite frankly, she spent the most time with Will. Will often found his attention being drawn to Nico whenever he entered the room, and immediately asking rhetorical questions to his companion. Many _So what’s up with him, anyway?_ ’s and _What do you think he’s like?_ ’s dominated these conversations. Nine times out of ten, Lou Ellen was the companion.

Lou Ellen confronted him about it after a couple weeks of persistent behavior, forcing Will to realize that maybe he was a little too curious about the kid. He asked questions no one had answers to, which only spurred his curiosity further, and encouraged him to ask more questions. After all, a little curiosity can’t be bad, right? No one really knew anything about Nico di Angelo, except maybe a handful of people. Most people were curious!

_However,_ Will had thought, avoiding Lou’s eyes, _most people don’t think about how cute he is._

The confrontation ended with Will stuttering out a “I think I’m gay” before looking Lou in the eyes, expression dumbfounded and face pale, and booking it.

So yeah. Lou Ellen definitely knew. Hazel, however, was more of a hunch.

She hung around Nico often, and whenever she caught sight of Will checking out her brother, she stared at him, gold eyes gleaming when eye contact was made, before smiling widely and winking.

This has happened almost once a week since January and Will still doesn’t know how to react. He still has yet to actually speak to her.

So, given his laughable interactions with the kid, Will thought it was high time he stopped watching from afar and actually try to talk him. Seeing him at the fair, alone, twiddling his thumbs as he faced a tent, Will thought it was the perfect opportunity.

“I just want to clarify that this is not my fault.” Nico’s voice interrupted the previous silence. He still refused to look at Will from his corner of the cell. From the streaks of sunlight filtering through the small window on the other side of the room (beside a snoozing Mr. D), Will could see that Nico, while not facing him, had at least turned in his general direction to speak.

“Like _hell_ it isn’t.” Will seethed.

At the time, Will approached Nico nervously, yet attempted to seem nonchalant. The sun blinding everything in an amiable glow and thousands of sounds and smells added to the appeal of a friendly conversation. After all, who wouldn’t feel lifted given the atmosphere? Will, usually focused and pragmatic (wish a healthy splash of chill and anxiety) even felt more cheerful. Given he had just finished his junior year, it had been a while since he’d felt so lighthearted. He even smiled slightly as he neared the boy, narrowing his eyebrow quizzically at the tent the boy had chosen to loiter by.

_The fireworks tent._ He thought dismally. Nico’s thumb twiddling had sped up noticeably, and Will began to notice that… Nico wasn’t empty handed.

“Hey!” he had called out, causing the italian to jump. Nico turned slowly towards Will, finally noticing his presence. Will tried for what he hoped was a smile, slightly unnerved by how the bewildered look on di Angelo’s face quickly morphed to something more akin to horror.

“You… Solace…” he managed to grind out, his hands frozen now. Will cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Yeah! We, uh, had a couple classes together! I just, saw you were alone, and, I guess…” Will laughed sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck as he felt his face heat up. _This was a mistake…_

Nico, however, didn’t seem offput by Will’s speech. He seemed more preoccupied with glancing nervously between Will, the tent, and whatever was in his hands. Will, feeling his smile drop immediately, took in what di Angelo was holding. Next to the fireworks tent. The currently _smoking_ fireworks tent.

“Uhm…” Nico started, “I can explain… I think…” His hands gripped the lighter tightly, as he glanced quickly to the tent, where the smoke was now starting to attract the attention of nearby children. “I didn’t-”

“Oh _hell_ no!” Leo Valdez pushed past Nico, violently bumping his shoulder and causing the boy to collapse.

Will would’ve helped the boy up if he weren’t already _freaking the hell out._

“I- _what the shit_ , _Nico?”_ he practically heaved, scrambling as far from the tent as possible. Nico, eyes flashing, glanced at a cursing Valdez currently succeeding in putting out the fire.

“What are you doing here, Leo?” he asked, as if he weren’t the one with a lighter in his hand next to a tent filled with explosives.

Leo only cursed in response. He was currently trying to beat the almost-flames out with his jacket. Will, recovering momentarily, found it in himself to grab a water bottle straight from the hand of a white soccer mom. She shrieked in response, but Will’s main focus was getting it to Leo.

Leo, who managed to quell the smoke, turned to Will and nodded gratefully. He accepted the water bottle, soccer mom shrieking and all, and poured it over the burnt area for good measure.

“I,” he ground out, “was inside the tent when I smelt smoke. _I’m_ in charge of fireworks this year. So _I_ was getting everything ready, because I'm being trusted with explosives and I _didn't want to fuck up_. And then it started smoking. And I find _you_ outside the tent with a lighter in your hands! What are _you_ doing here, di Angelo?” his voice started out calm yet menacing, but quickly built to a crescendo as he was practically screaming at the shaking boy by the end of it.

“I…” Nico started. he gulped audibly, but he couldn’t seem to get the words out. “I didn’t…”

“What, and you expect me to believe Jimmy Two Shoes over here did? Get real.”

Nico looked like he was about to cry, Leo looked like his head was about to explode, and Will was in shock.

The events that happened after that were a blur. All Will knew was that the old grouch of the town, Mr. D. was dragged to the scene by the soccer mom that Will stole the water bottle from. She was shrieking about goth freaks obsessed with arson and Satan, blonde accomplices who steal water bottles, and a heroic latino boy who managed to stop doomsday via fireworks.

Mr. D. was a stout, chubby man, with a delicate temper and a constant hangover. He has a personal vendetta against anyone annoying or under 21, so naturally his immediate response was just to send Leo on his merry way and have Will and Nico escorted to the makeshift holding cell.

“All I’m saying,” Nico said, turning back into his corner and effectively shielding his face from Will’s view. “Is that I didn’t try to light the tent.”

“Well then what _did_ you do?” Will snapped, causing the other boy to flinch in surprise. Sighing, Will carded his fingers through his light hair, breathing deeply. “Sorry. I’m stressed out. What did you do?” Will asked, his voice closer to the gentle tone he usually has. Nico’s shoulders slackened slightly, as he leaned his head back to take a deep breath. Nico’s cheeks looked hollowed by the shadows created by his prominent cheekbones. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and his brows furrowed.

“It’s… kinda stupid.” he admitted. Will only hummed in response. Fingers tapping against the wood floor nervously, Nico cleared his throat. “It all kinda started when I first got at the fair.

“My sister, Hazel, went with me. I could tell she was getting annoyed because she wanted to be alone with her boyfriend, so I decided to break apart from them. I told them that I was going to get candy and not to wait for me.

“I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going until I realized I was at a tent. When I walked up, I noticed the lighter on the ground. Like an _idiot,_ I decided to pick it up. I was just- curious, I don’t know, so I tried to light it. And then I accidentally caught the tent? Then I realize it was the fireworks tent, and then you came up to me.” Nico’s voice, soft and deep, succumbed into a thicker accent as he spoke, as he was getting more and more distressed. Will looked at him. Despite his seemingly nonchalant pose, Nico’s muscles were obviously tense as he waited for Will’s reaction.

In all honesty, Will didn’t know how to react. He was still angry about being in space themed jail when he should have met up with Lou Ellen and Cecil by now, eating sugary foods to their hearts content and waiting for the fireworks, but he felt kinda bad about antagonizing di Angelo. Nico, with his head back, muscles tense, and eyes screwed shut as he radiated shame, looked more like a kicked puppy than a juvenile criminal. Will didn’t want his perfect reputation ruined, but he also couldn’t find it in himself to be too harsh with the kid. He hummed lowly.

“And you really expect me to believe you weren’t lighting a cigarette?” He asked, nearly apathetic. Nico’s head snapped forward so quickly, Will almost found it in himself to laugh. Nico stammered incoherently, eyes widened in disbelief. He shook his head profusely, before _finally_ looking at Will.

“I-- I don’t, _merda,_ I don’t smoke!” At the insulted tone Nico adopted, Will actually _did_ laugh. Despite himself, and the humiliation he felt of being in holding, Will felt himself do a complete 180. He was still stressed, and he was still humiliated, but suddenly the tension of the situation felt so much _lighter_. Nico, flabberghasted by Will’s response, merely grumbled angrily, and pulled his knees to his chest, resting his chin on his knees.

“I-” Will’s chortling slowed to a stop, the boy taking quick, giggle filled breaths. “Sorry. I just- You just- looked so- _I don’t know!”_ Will snorted again, unable to articulate what he found so funny. Nico merely glared back at Will, brown eyes flashing.

“I can’t believe I’m sitting in space jail with _you_ of all people.” he deadpanned, shielding his face in his sweeping hair so Will wouldn’t see the amused smirk playing on his lips. Will smiled modestly, his laughing fit now over.

“I can’t believe I’m in space jail at all.” he admitted, feeling the smile fade slowly. “I’ve never even gotten _detention,_ and- and here I am, in- in jail!”

“Eh. Space jail. I doubt you’ll suffer any. You just stole a water bottle.” he cut in, glancing over at Will, his eyebrows furrowed. Will felt his breath catch at the look on di Angelo’s face. Nico was reassuring him, and his expression was the only genuine expression of anything somewhat pleasant so far. Will felt his cheeks get hot.

“Maybe...” he murmured. Nico, for whatever reason, also began to pink in the cheeks.

“Anyway… you were saying- before the fire, I mean-”

“Almost fire.” Will corrected, immediately feeling stupid for interrupting the person he’s been wanting to talk to for ages.

“Right. _Almost_ fire. You were saying something before.” Nico finished, peering at Will, shy. The blush persisted on the Italian’s cheeks, showing Will’s quickening  heartbeat no mercy. Will cleared his throat, trying to appear aloof.

“I was just gonna, you know, say hi. We had a couple classes together, and you were alone, so I decided to… talk to you?” he tried, trying not to make direct eye contact with the other boy. Nico caught on to Will’s discomfort immediately, and moved his gaze from Will’s face, to the space beside his head. Oddly enough, it made Will more comfortable. He let out a sigh in relief.

“I see…” Nico said. “we didn’t talk much, no? That’s a shame.”

“Yeah…”

“You know, Hazel used to tell me, that whenever we got to history class, she would notice some blonde boy named Will who would always be looking at me.” Nico wasn’t looking at him anymore, instead finding interest in picking at a loose thread on his jeans. Demurely, he raised his head slightly, and cocking it to the side, uttered, “Surely it is not a coincidence?”

Will felt the air leave him. He _noticed!_ Nico di Angelo _noticed!_ God, what could Will even _do_ in this situation?

Of course, there were two logical ways he could respond.

1: Feign ignorance. Say it was a different blonde in their history class named Will.

2: Admit to being mildly attracted to the boy. Apologize.

“I…” Will didn’t know which route to take, so to say. Turn left and completely shut down anything that could possibly transpire between the two? Or maybe turn right and take his chances with the rumored-but-not-confirmed-gay. Honestly, Will didn’t want to take his chances with guessing another person’s sexuality. Albeit, he definitely didn’t feel he could deny it. _After all,_ Will thought miserably, _I’m the only blonde male in our history class._

“I… Wouldn’t mind.” Nico cut off Will’s train of thought with his surprisingly gentle tone. “I may or may not have found myself looking at him too… on more than one occasion.” Nico, with great hesitance, lifted himself on his palms, and shifted mere centimetres closer to Will. The dark haired boy curled his right hand in a fist, before stretching out his long fingers. Fingers twitching, the boy was contemplating whether or not he should touch the blonde.

Will couldn’t breathe. He could imagine a bunch of mini Will’s in his brain running around screaming “ABORT ABORT ABORT” as the office building of his mind burst into flames. He felt like someone sucker punched him in the gut, yet oddly felt lighter at the same time. The only coherent thought bouncing around his thoughts was _Is he into me?_  matched with unintelligible screaming. Will, biting his lip, looked at Nico’s reluctant hand. Feeling his jaw tremble, Will felt oddly humiliated yet excited. This was the moment that he should have been waiting for, yeah? He should- he should take advantage of the situation!

Will ground out a “Cool.” before grabbing Nico’s hand in his own, the screaming in his head intensifying in volume.

Nico, a bit shocked at the sudden movement, reacted slowly. Slowly, he felt an honest to God grin pull at the corners of his lips. Slowly, he revelled in the flushed, embarrassed face of the other boy. Slowly, he intertwined his fingers with Will’s, doing funny things to both the boys’ hearts. Will squeezed Nico’s hand, before letting out a loud, exasperated sigh.

“Why am I such a damn dork?” he agonized, quite enjoying the laugh he instigated from the other boy. Nico squeezed back, smiling too much to give a proper response, anyhow.

 

The fair continued as normal. With the fireworks show going off without a hitch, the soccer mom getting full reimbursement for her stolen water bottle, and two blushing teenaged boys whom had officially traded numbers, hands clasped tightly.  

**Author's Note:**

> I... just wrote fluff.
> 
> I don't write fluff??? But I just did???
> 
> Weird.
> 
> Let me know what you think, I guess?


End file.
